HomeMy WebLinkAboutProposed Antiquities Ordinance whereby significant archaeolo•
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CITY OF HunTInGTon BEACH
P.O. BOX 190, CALIFORNIA 92648
PLANNING DEPT. (714) 536-5271
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Planning Department
DATE: June 2, 1975
ATTN: David D. Rowlands, City Administrator
SUBJECT: -ANTIQUITIES ORDINANCE
Transmitted herewith is a proposed Antiquities Ordinance for
the City of Huntington Beach. This Ordinance has been prepared
to provide a means whereby significant archaeological resources
within the City can be protected.
In the Fall of 1972 the City contracted with an archaeological
firm to survey the archaeological resources within the City
so that the sites could be identified, explored, and in some
instances protected before rapidly expanding building activity
destroyed this valuable resource.
The Antiquities Ordinance represents a coordinated effort of
professional, quasi -professional archaeological and paleontolog-
ical groups along with appointed City Boards and Commissions.
This Ordinance will require approval of a permit by the
Department of Environmental Resources for any construction or
activity taking place within an area designated on the map
specifying the location of archaeological sites within the City.
This Ordinance was originally scheduled for City Council action
on May 19, 1975 but was deferred to this date so that suggested
modifications could be incorporated into the Ordinance, and these
modifications are: 1) the definition of antiquity was narrowed;
2) the time period of a valid permit was lengthened to one year;
and 3) the permit procedure was modified to allow mitigation methods
to be developed. The Ordinance has been scheduled under the
public hearing portion of the agenda to allow for additional input.
There has been some interest expressed by members of the City
Council and citizens of Huntington Beach as to the methodology
used to protect the City's tree resources. At one point, it was
intended to include such a provision within this Ordinance. How-
ever, after numerous meetings among the City staff it is a consensus
that trees of significance should be considered on a project -by -
project basis by the Environmental Review Board during its review
of environmental documents. Any discretionary act within the
City is preceded by an initial environmental study. In addition,
30.
City Council Antiquities Ordinance
June 2, 1975
Page 2
The recently adopted Subdivision Ordinance contains a require-
ment that the nature, size, location, and type of trees shall be
depicted on each tentative or parcel map.
In order to cover the situation where no discretionary action.is
required, the City could adopt a map identifying trees of
significance as. a portion of the Conservation Element of the
General Plan and require permit approval prior to issuance of a
building or grading permit.
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Antiquities Ordinance be approved and that
the City Attorney's Office be directed to prepare an ordinance imple-
menting the proposal.
Respectfully submitted,
Richard A. Harlow
Director of Planning and Environmental Resources
RAH:JMC:df'
Attachment
[LA,Me Environmental Council
Lle" CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH
HUNTINGTON BEACH Post Office Box 190 0 � Huntington Beach, California 92648
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Environmental Council
DATE: March 27, 1975
RE: Antiquities Ordinance
The Environmental Council has been very interested in locating
the resources of the past that lie buried with the residents
of the past on the bluffs of Huntington Beach and are concerned
about their preservation. At our recommendation, the City Council
budgeted money for the Scientific Resources Survey of the City
which was conducted in 1972 by Archaeological Research Inc. This
has proved to be a useful document in identifying, for the city,
the known or newly identified areas where archaeological remains
may be found. These are areas which should be carefully evaluated
by qualified archaeologists before the land is disturbed for
construction. However, the Scientific Resources Survey and map
alone do not provide the necessary direction to either staff or
developers for them to evaluate the specific requirements of
each site. Because the size, state of preservation, and even
the former activity on the sites vary, the methods of obtaining
the historical information and artifacts will vary. Archaeologists
must be allowed the opportunity of making recommendations,
observations, and in some cases excavations of the artifacts,
in situ.
The City of Huntington Beach was the first city in Southern
California to have a survey of historic and archaeologic resources
of the entire city conducted. We are not, however, the first to
adopt an ordinance to protect these irreplaceable resources. It
is important to many in the city, especially the young people, to
know more about those who lived here in the past. This can be
done only if those identified sites are protected through time
constraints and other conditions on development, -that will allow
qualified individuals to investigate the remains of the past
prior to development. The proposed Huntington Beach Antiquities
Ordinance has been reviewed by the Environmental Council, and will
be in our judgement a very valuable addition to the Ordinance Code.
If such an ordinance had been in existence last month, it is
likely that the unfortunate destruction of 25% of ORA 145, our
one preserved "archaeological park" would not have occurred.
Every document relating to that project would have been tagged
(with skull and crossbones) for special caution to avoid
disturbing the very shallow resources that were scheduled for
investigation at a later date.
i
The Environmental Council urges you to approve the Antiquities
ordinance and place it in force as soon as possible.
Res ectfully,
Joseph J. Milkovich
Chairman
JJM/MC/s
cc A. Studdert
M. Carlberg
R. Winchell
�d HUNTINGTON BEACH CHAMBER of COMMERCE
• 1 N g, BEACH BOULEVARD, SUITE 224 HUNTINGTON BEACII, CALIFORNIA 92648
TELEPHONE (714) 962-6661
RECEIVED.
HUNTINGTON BEACH
May 19, 1975 IA AY i 9 1975
PLANNING DEPT.
PROPOSED ANTIQUITIES
ORDINANCE #1983
City Council
City of Huntington Beach
2000 Main Street
Huntington Beach, California 92648
Honorable Mayor and City Council:
The Legislative Action Committee of the Chamber has reviewed the
subject ordinance, and believes it to be unworkable in its present
form. The principal defects are the broad scope of artifacts to be
preserved and the lack of criteria for the permit process.
While there may be a need for some local legislation in this area,
the draft, as proposed, would create many more problems than it would
solve. The approval procedure for any project in the City is now so
complex and time-consuming that we are reluctant to see another permit
and review added to the many now required.
We suggest, therefore, that any Antiquities ordinance be designed to
incorporate such a review into the Environmental Impact Statement
process. Any project involving grading must have an EIS or an ND, and
this subject could be reviewed as part of the overall process.
Such an ordinance should contain criteria for determining the desirability
of preserving specific classes of Antiquities, since it seems clear that
not every article must be preserved at whatever cost. Also required
could be a determination of how much of an economic burden can reasonably
be placed upon a property owner for the community's benefit; and at what
point the community must share that burden.
We would be pleased to work with the appropriate staff group toward a
more reasonable ordinance along these lines.
r
ED SULLIVAN, President